Looking for an easy reading incentive for students? Here are some quick and easy bookmarks to make to give to your students.Okay... so I know that I'm not the first person to have ever figured this out and it's clearly not rocket science... but I can't believe how easy it is to make my own bookmarks with scrapbook paper!

My students love bookmarks... like really love... I had no idea that they would be so popular. However, buying bookmarks online is expensive "like $1.50-$2.00 each expensive" which is over $50 per class!! As well, most of the bookmarks I see would not appeal to my middle/high school aged readers. While wandering the stationary aisles of Micheal's Craft Store one day trying to think of something I could make with the beautiful stacks of scrapbook paper, I realized I could make bookmarks! There are tons of teen-friendly papers and when I buy the books on sale I can make 200-300 bookmarks for less than $15!And it turns out my students love them! They ask for themes (they can't wait for the Valentine's Day bookmarks I've promised!) and love when I add new ones to my box of bookmarks.

I usually use a 12"x12" book and I can get 10 bookmarks per page. For the Valentine's Day bookmarks above I used a 6"x6" mini-book and got 5 per page. I just got this awesome pad of comic book themed paper on sale!! Can't wait to cut these up into bookmarks - my students are going to LOVE them!!

Ugh... we've all been there! You wake up in the morning and realized you're not going to make it in to school. I know I've dragged myself in to school on many days (when I really should have stayed home!) because the thought of coming up with a plan for the day can seem overwhelming!

Here's a FREE and fun writing activity that can be used just about any time during the year in an ELA, Social Studies or Science classroom. Students must create the front page of a newspaper to practice expository writing. Includes assignment sheet, graphic organizers and a marking rubric!

In the middle of a novel study? Adapt it to be about an event in the novel!

Why not have your students write about an important historical event?

Teaching science? Students could write a news article to summarize a current topic!

Great review for writing, editing and more! Just click the image above to grab a copy!

Another handy pack to have on hand is my Poetry Package! It includes 7 individual poetry activities that students could easily work on with a substitute teacher. Each activity includes everything needed to get started right away and is "print and go" ready!